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May 30, 2008

A day in the life

We had an awesome start to the morning. We've apparently resorted to bribery to get the girls to let us sleep in in the morning. Last night, we stopped at Sonic on the way home from Rex and the girls' TKD test (Jamie made green, Rex orange, and Katie got her first orange stripe. So. Proud.) It was late, so I told them we would stop for ice cream if they promised to sleep in the next day.

And they did.

We didn't hear a sound out of them until 8, and it was 8:30 before Rex went to tell them we were up. They were playing quietly in the game room upstairs. On top of that, Owen slept in til almost 8:30. I'm still in shock!

After breakfast, I shaved Pookie again. He looks funny without most of his fur, but I'm drowning in fuzz, here. After I washed off all the extra hair in the shower, we walked over to the last house we lived in to drop off the keys and garage door openers. We are finally rid of that albatross! Three months of paying rent and utilities on a house we were happy to move out of. Rex ended up carrying Katie most of the way home. She was complaining about her stomach. I felt bad, because I had told Rex yesterday and today that she seemed a bit off her game, and then we went on a long, hot walk. In my defense, she was excited to go.

After lunch, Katie felt a bit hot, but she only napped for about two hours. She was really hot by the time she woke up. Of course, that's also about the time Owen decided he wasn't going to be quiet unless there was an actual boob in his mouth. He's normally pretty cool with the pacifier, and happy to lie on the floor as long as he's fed and well rested. Not so much today. Not a good day to get ambitious with dinner. I ate most of mine while walking laps around the kitchen.

Katie's fever broke after a dose of Tylenol, but I imagine I'll be up checking on her a few times tonight. Owen is finally asleep and has been for a couple hours. Better yet, he let me put him down, so I finally get to type with two hands!

Posted by me at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

May 29, 2008

NOT a paid advertisement

I'm not super eco-hippie, but I try to do what I can to recycle and cut down on energy usage. That pretty much means that I do the easy stuff: Recycle in our home, buy more energy efficient appliances, buy less stuff in general, and freecycle or donate anything that has life left in it. So when I saw IzzyMom's post about Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge, I was intrigued. And when I realized it would only take 30 second's to add their badge to my page, and in return they'll offset 350 pounds of carbon in my name, I figured that was easy enough even for me.

Put the badge on your site. It's a lot easier than finding 100 light bulbs to turn off for a day, and a hell of a lot easier than giving up your car for two weeks.

Posted by me at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Is that legal?

Posted by me at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

Because I'm not feeling witty enough for paragraphs

More bullets:

• Owen slept a glorious 8+ hours Saturday night. Six hour nights aren't all that rare these days. I love my boy!


• The girls refuse to sleep in, no matter how hard we run them into the ground, and how late we keep them up. Jamie was so tired she fell asleep while we were at the pool, but didn't sleep a minute past seven all weekend. She won't nap, either. Katie will at least cave in and take a nap, but that doesn't help me when I've stayed up too late playing with my friends, too.


• We had friends in this weekend. Between us, we have 6 kids. They have a lot of fun together (so do the adults!), but it's a little like herding cats. We mostly hung out and talked while the kids played, which is pretty much my idea of a good time, these days.


• We lost a Herman sometime late last week. At least this time I don't have to take the blame. I neither starved, dehydrated or cooked the crab. Katie has been pretty sentimental lately, so I was worried about breaking the news. As it turns out, the kids are so excited about going to get a new crab, they didn't even acknowledge the death of the old one.


• Rex is working nights this week, which means he and I will push our schedule back, but the kids won't. Which is why I'll be heading to bed now.

Posted by me at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2008

I'll be getting my pink slip any day now

I have completely lost control.

Every night, I say tomorrow is another day. I'll do better tomorrow. And every day, they drive me so nuts I want to put my fist through a wall. I am so not cut out for parenting. I've lost all sense of humor. I don't know how to have fun or be fun. I hold a grudge against my kids for all the shit they put me through.

And then. AND THEN. When I try to do something nice or fun, they make me regret it. If I give them something once, as a treat, they badger me about doing it again forever. The nice stuff always seems to bite me in the ass. But what's life without the fun and nice and the treats?

I'd go into detail about today, but I think I want to forget it.

Posted by me at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

Vacation for who?

I've been really exhausted the last few mornings, and I'm not sure if I'm still catching up from Owen's really bad night a few days back, adjusting to my new thyroid levels, or if it's just the cumulative effects of two months of night wakings. Last night, by the time I finished making teacher gifts, I was pooped. I made some comment about how nice it would be if Owen would just sleep through the night.

And then he did.

He slept for over six and a half hours, from when I finally got to bed until a reasonable (not desirable, reasonable) morning wake-up time. I slept pretty much straight through, too, except for an early morning something's-different alert and then an is-the-baby-dead check.

---

The girls had a field day for their last day of school. An ice cream truck with free popsicles, an Army Hummer, and some outdoor games. Katie was most impressed by getting to go outside to play twice in one day. Jamie was really excited about the two trucks, but I'm not sure what did it for her in the end. I think she really just likes running wilid with her friends and playing with all the little sisters.

I think I was more emotional about leaving the teachers than the girls were. Then again, I'm not sure Katie really has a concept of "summer vacation." Jamie has a better understanding of time, but I think she gets so caught up in the excitement of the moment that it doesn't occur to her to say goodbye.

Jamie has been talking about how now we can go anywhere we want, whenever we want. I don't think she gets that now every day is going to be like Friday's have been all year. Errands, catering to the baby, and occasional fun trips. She's told me that "babies sure are a lot of work," but I'm not sure she's getting that he's a lot of work all the time.

It's time to lower her expectations, and raise mine.

Posted by me at 9:02 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Busy busy busy

More bullets, because we've been busy:

• Last night was Katie's music program. She did awesome! I'm always surprised at how well she does up in front of a crowd, considering how shy she is around strangers. Hell, she's shy with her teachers still, and she loves them.
• Flat Stanley has been visiting us for the last week. We didn't manage to go anywhere exciting, although he almost got sandwich at Jason's Deli one day. Katie totally fell for him, though. She's been in tears at least three times today because we have to send him back to Pennsylvania.
• Tonight was Jamie music program and graduation. I'm pretty much dead inside, but even I teared up seeing her on the stage with her cap on. I can't believe she's going to be in kindergarden next year! When did she stop being a baby and start being a kid?
• After graduation, we went to Sonic to get ice cream. Just as we ordered, Katie said she had to go to the bathroom. Yay! for her finally telling us. Boo for there not being any bathrooms nearby. We jumped in the van and got her home in time to go. She threw a fit when we made her go when we got home, which is just classic Katie.
• We finally got the kids in bed around 9:30. Everything was finally quiet (there was one more Flat Stanley fit), and then around 10:15 there was a really loud thump. I was halfway up the stairs by the time the crying started. Katie has now fallen out of her new bed for the first time. I'm guessing she's loving the thing a little less now.
• I've spent a good portion of today getting, assembling and assisting in getting teacher gifts ready. I wish I had come up with a good idea sooner!
• One of Rex's co-workers has invited us to a sort of wedding celebration. It's a formal affair, so of course, no kids. I really want to go, not beause I know the friend, but because it's been so long since we've gotten to go somewhere fancy. There's pretty much no way though, since we have no family and don't know any sitters here yet. Even if we did have a sitter, I'm not sure I'm ready to leave Owen with anyone but family. Even that would be difficult, what with his every five minutes nursing schedule. Le sigh.
• Tomorrow is the last day of preschool. I have some seriously mixed feelings about that. Mostly, I'm just scared.

Posted by me at 10:58 PM | Comments (2)

May 18, 2008

Tattletale

I'm much less angsty than I should be, considering how this evening went. I think perhaps I will sum up with bullets.

• Pretty much every time I've handed Owen over to Rex so I could take care of something, he has turned into a shrieking banshee. Like, completely inconsolable. It takes me a long time to calm him back down. I have no idea what's causing it. It's reminiscent of the carseat problem (that has improved dramatically), and just as frustrating to me.
• This potty thing? With Katie? It is infuriating. For a good month, she was perfect, which is why her continued refusal to hie herself to the bathroom is so frustrating. Tonight, she pooped herself, but it was, um, understandable? I'll let you fill in the blanks. It was when she peed in her room, while we were all up there finishing putting the room together, that got us. She apparently went while she was running around, there was even some on the bottom rung of the ladder. She had been sitting on the toilet not 30 minutes before. I'm stumped.
• Rex picked up Katie's mattress today, so she's getting to sleep in the bunk bed for the first time. She absolutely thrilled. Of course, that didn't stop her from climbing out of it when she was supposed to be going to sleep and picking up some trash the delivery guys left under the bed. Trash that had been there since Thursday, but suddenly needed removal TODAY. This was after they had been told to be quiet three times, including a visit from Daddy. That child is going to drive me insane. More insane, anyway.
• When we moved Katie's old bed (ok, twin mattress on the floor. At least it didn't hurt when she fell out!), I saw what she has done to the wall in the what, three months that we've lived here? I knew some of it was there, but I didn't expect it to be as gross as it was. Boogers, handprints, and I don't want to think about what else. It makes me want to paint.

Posted by me at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

Well, I guess it's ok then

K: Boogers taste good to me.
Me: You aren't supposed to pick your nose.
K: I just like to eat them.

Posted by me at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

It's the end of a long, long week. Unfortunately, I don't think the worst of it is going to get better with the return of Daddy.

Posted by me at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

It's opposite week

This has been a topsy turvy week.

Owen's been known to have crappy, sleepless days, but not two in a row. He made up for it by sleeping pretty much all day. That's the good part. The bad part is that after two days of him barely dozing, I wasn't about to set him down in case it woke him up. It probably wouldn't have, but I wasn't taking any chances. The result is that my back and butt hurt even more.

Jamie woke up this morning in a bad mood. The kid has been a morning person since the day she was born, but I think I'm finally starting to rub off on her. In addition to her grumpies, this morning she was complaining that her neck hurt. I'm pretty sure that she just slept on it wrong, since a neck rub and some ibuprofen seemed to help. On the way to school, she said she was tired. I told her she should have slept longer, and she said she just woke up too early. Uh, yeah. Whose fault is that? I'd be willing to pay the kids to sleep past 7, but no one's taking. I had every intention of getting her to nap this afternoon, but between needing to strip the room for the furniture delivery and early TKD, it just didn't happen. Which explains why she fell asleep in the van on the way to TKD.

Katie was such a grump this morning that I put her down for a nap less than an hour after dropping Jamie off at school. I was only slightly surprised that she actually went to sleep. I was shocked that I had to go up and get her three and a half hours later. She was just waking up when I went to get her to pick Jamie up.

As for me, well, all the crap comes when you don't have backup. Last night with Owen screaming and fussing. Then he wouldn't wake up when I tried to nurse him when I went to bed. Fourty-five minutes later, the cat yacking in the bathroom woke me up. I was just falling back to sleep when Owen woke up for his (literally) midnight snack. Then he woke up at six, apparently ready to face the day.

Just to screw everything up further, it was close to nine before the girls went to sleep. The excitement (and letdown) of the new furniture arriving. Jamie is thrilled to be up high in the new bunk bed, Katie is teary because we don't have the full mattress so she can sleep in the bottom.

Maybe, just to keep me on my toes, the girls will sleep in tomorrow morning.

Posted by me at 9:46 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

Even so, I'm ready for a break

Oh, my.

This has been quite a long day. Owen has been awake most of the day, AGAIN. It's not that he's particularly cranky, he's just not sleeping. Yesterday, it was just during the day, and by the time I put the girls to bed, he was ready to sleep. Tonight, I didn't even get that much out of him until about 9:30. He's out cold now, and I'm getting my first break all day. I need a little time to decompress, but at this point I have to choose between alone time and sleep. I haven't decided which will win yet.

The girls have actually been pretty good today. Sure, Katie was jumping on her bed this morning, and kept doing it in spite of me. This afternoon, while they were upstairs playing, Katie went into their bathroom and opened a jar of Eucerin cream. If you don't know what that is, just imagine a small tub of lard. When I went in there, she told me the water wouldn't turn on. Maybe because you're greased like a pig? Luckily, aside from some handprints in the bathroom, the sink area, and the box of wipes in her bedroom that she was trying to open when I went upstairs, she didn't decorate anything that couldn't be wiped up.

To kill time tonight, and mix up bath night a little, we had a little spa night. I mud-masked the three of us, and then we all took a shower while Owen watched. Hmm, that sounds dirty. Then we had a picnic of Lunchables in the living room and watched Cinderella. The whole evening was actually quite enjoyable, and for me, that's saying something.



Posted by me at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

And we weren't even out working in the yard

Jamie is in the other room, singing "Swing low, sweet chariot". She knows more of the words than I do.

Posted by me at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

Procrastinator

I sent the girls upstairs with strict instructions to get in pjs, do not pass go, do not play, dance, twirl or frolick. Pottygoing is ok.

They did pretty good. Well, Jamie did great. Katie got stuck trying to get her shirt off because she refuses to do it my way, and hers doesn't always work. She wouldn't let Jamie help her, but she let me help when she was done shrieking. She was pretty quick about getting her diaper and nightgown on after that. I have no idea if she went potty or not. She finally came downstairs.

She climbed up to the table for her snack.

She got up to go potty (unsuccessfully).

She climbed up to the table.

She got down to get a drink.

She climbed up to the table.

I turned around, and she was climbing up to the table again.

That's when I took the snack away. Holy crap, that kid can put off anything.

Posted by me at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

It took me over a week to get this picture, and more than two weeks to post it



Posted by me at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)

But how will we survive the summer?

Rex redeemed himself on Mother's Day this year. Then he left me alone with three kids while he jetted off to California.

Last year I was pissed not because Rex didn't get me anything, but because he didn't help the girls do something for me. Hell, he didn't even remind them to say Happy Mother's Day. I wasn't mad about the stuff, but because he didn't teach the girls that I'm important.

This year, he let them pick what they wanted to do, and helped them make it. They painted flower pots, and planted seeds for beautiful flowers that they picked out. Jamie brought home a photo album filled with pictures of her year at preschool, and Katie gave me a CD case with a picture, handprint and poem inside. And I got Sonic for breakfast. A vanilla Coke goes a long way towards forgiveness.

Also, all three kids napped. At the same time. I'm not telling the girls, but I think that may have been the best gift.

Now I have to come up with ways to keep the girls occupied and me sane. I'm not sure why an extra two and a half hours a day is so hard to push through, but by bedtime, I'm a shrew. I suspect it has more to do with juggling Owen than having the kids on my own for a week. After all, I used to do this a couple weeks a month, and it wasn't all that difficult. The good news is that adding him into our lives can only get easier as he gets older,

Posted by me at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2008

The indoor s'more

Graham cracker, Nutella and marshmallow cream.

Posted by me at 2:13 PM | Comments (2)

Sums up my feelings about cleaning

"Mama, why are you cleaning the kitchen? There's not going to be a birthday party."

Posted by me at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2008

Milestone

As of this morning, I hit my prepregnancy weight. I'm thrilled, although I'd be more excited if a) I hadn't been within one pound a week and a half ago, then gained a few, then lost a few, b) if I thought I was still going to be this weight tomorrow and c) if my doctor hadn't decided to lower my thyroid meds.

C) is the big one. Last year, right before I got pregnant, my doctor lowered my meds and I gained five or six pounds (that didn't magically disappear when he raised my dose again) and became a human shaped slug. I became unusually skilled at dropping into an immediate sleep and stayed that way for a good eight or nine hours. Then I'd get up to take care of the kids feeling like I'd been awake half the night.

After a month of that, he retested my blood and agreed that I needed to raise my dose again. That's when I got pregnant and my OB took over.

I've felt absolutely fantastic since I've had Owen, and I'm afraid that it's all going to end when I start on the lower dose. Whether it's a return to "normal" or an actual deficiency, I'm not interested in feeling less awake and alive than I do right now.

Posted by me at 4:46 PM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2008

wtf

At every house we've owned, and several we haven't, I have received mail in the name of Rex's ex-wife. Her exact name, my exact address. I'm torn between amusement and annoyance.

And I wonder if it's someone's idea of a joke.

Posted by me at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

Accidental genius

Holy crap. I just randomly replaced the code for the category listing that wasn't working with an example I found on MT's page that I wasn't even sure what it did, and it totally fixed my problem. Except that I can't find the last post I made in the category I posted it in. Hmm. I bet that's a whole different problem.

Whatever, one problem solved!

Posted by me at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

Three!



Posted by me at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

I am an idiot

Jamie has been getting so much more independent lately. Most afternoons when it's nice, she'll ask if she can go outside and blow bubbles, run, play, whatever. (SUCH a big change from the kid who wouldn't sit on the other side of a giant window from me and play in the sandbox! Today, she came in and asked if she could take her ball out to play with. Absolutely!

So why was I so pissed off when I saw that she got the pump out and was (successfully!) adding air to her ball? She wasn't hurting anything, wasn't in any danger, wasn't even making a mess, and yet my first reaction was to yell at her to put the pump away. Is it because I feel I'm being reproached for not having the ball at the correct state of pumpedness? Because I feel guilty for not having anticipated a need? Because I don't want her touching "my" stuff?

I had the same reaction the first time she took it upon herself to get her own snack. She chose something that I would not have chosen (and that, really, isn't supposed to be a regular snack) and for some reason, I was mad. I'm supposed to do that. If she does for herself, what's my job?

Duh. My job is to teach her to do things for herself.

Thank goodness for a sleepy nursing Owen and a closed door. They saved me from being stupid. This time.

Posted by me at 10:02 PM | Comments (2)

May 6, 2008

I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I've signed up for Twitter.

Posted by me at 8:26 PM | Comments (0)

More monkeys off my back

I've been a little light on the posting. My dad came to visit for Katie's birthday last Wednesday, and he just left this morning. The result is a weird more time/less gets done phenomenon. Naturally, the last couple days, Owen has been sleeping up a storm, but today, when I want to get a few things done that require arms, he's been awake and fussy and only catnapping.

I have this chicken scratch list of things I wanted to blog about, but when I look at it now, each thing seems like it's only a sentence. That, or it happened so long ago, it no longer seems relevant. I have a whole pile of unpublished posts that are the same way, but somehow I just can't let them go. Guess who suffers? That's right, YOU.

Let's see...the Owen update. He's definately getting better about the car, although he still hates stopping, and he still sometimes loses it completely. HOWEVER, he has also slept through entire trips, and even been awake and content at times. He's finally started noticing and being amused by toys. Like, you can lay him on the floor with stuff dangling over him, and distract him from fussiness by jiggling the toys. My boobs are grateful for the distraction.

After 3 years of planning, searching, moving, cursing and procrastination, Jamie is finally getting bedroom furniture. And so is Katie. Lucky second kid! We finally decided on a set from Pottery Barn Kids. I feel so snooty! All of the other kids furniture we looked at was crap, though. I wanted something that would last until they left for college, and possibly beyond. Most of what we looked at didn't seem sturdy enough to make it until next year, much less through high school. Of course, we're paying for the quality, but at least I won't have to look anymore. I can't wait to stop sorting their clothes into piles on the floor.

Tonight, Jamie and I are going shopping for a birthday present for Katie, among other things. I'm going to try to leave Owen here. I can't remember the last time it was just Jamie and I. I think the last time we ended up bitching at each other, so I'm going to try to avoid that this time. I'd like her to remember Mama and Me time as a good thing, not the time where Mama bitches at me alone instead of sharing the angst with my sister.

Posted by me at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 5, 2008

I'll be the one scratching

Early last week, I developed a hideously itchy rash between the ring and middle fingers of my left hand. I assumed it was a recurrence of my dyshidrosis, until I found an big itchy patch on my cheek. Over the week since the first I found the first bumps, I've found new blisters and patches daily. Revised diagnosis: poison ivy that has become systemic. I didn't even know poison ivy could do that, and I've been getting plenty of it since I was a kid.

The upside is that a doctor (ok, my OB) actually agrees that it's poison ivy. The downside is that she suggested hydrocortisone cream, which as far as I can tell is about as effective as hand cream. She said that if the rash gets bad enough, i could go on steroids, but when I asked if I could take steroids while breastfeeding, all she said was that they would make me crazy. Since we've established that crazy and I already have a relationship, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

At least the first bumps that showed up are starting to fade, and I don't look like I have a nasty case of facial herpes anymore.

Posted by me at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)